Kukla's Korner Hockey

"It wasn't easy to leave because the academy is the academy,'' Hinote said. "You're so proud to be there. But the way my family and I figured, you can always go back to school. Your window of opportunity for hockey is so small. You never want to look back and wish you did something."
Hinote acknowledges that his time at West Point changed him, and not just because after you've gone through an Army boot camp, an NHL training camp is nothing.
"I think (West Point) changes everybody,'' Hinote said. "You fully understand what you're capable of taking mentally. Once you go through that first year, you realize the capability of your mind and body. After that, you think, 'I went through that. I can handle (anything).' "

moreupdate 2:15pm, Heard there was a knee on knee hit last night on McKee during the Blues/Wild contest. McKee is out with a knee injury and it could be a month until he returns.
update 3:12pm, from the News-Democrat,

St. Louis Blues defenseman Jay McKee sustained a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee Thursday in a preseason game against Minnesota and will be out for at least two weeks and possibly longer.
That could keep McKee out of the lineup when the Blues open the regular season Oct. 5 at San Jose.
McKee was injured on a hard check in the third period by Minnesota's Derek Boogaard.
"If he wants to hit me that's fine," McKee said Friday after getting treatment at the Blues' practice facility. "But when a guy's exposed and his legs are hanging out, it's not very hard to back off. It's just asking to injure a player when you do that.
"If that's what he wanted to do, he achieved his goal."